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Eliezer Yudkowsky
Weird weird guy. Seriously, deeply, compellingly, wrenchingly, cringingly, awesomely weird. His website is http://yudkowsky.net/ where he writes, in a nut shell, about rationality, without reservations, and The Singularity. I'm really truly torn on him, so much of what he writes is just pure, straight-talking, sense, and yet his whole ethos (see http://lesswrong.com/) just reeks of an obvious Personality Cult, and it is certainly rather scathingly spoken of at RationalWikihttp://rationalwiki.org/wiki/LessWrong. The two things I remain incredibly sceptical of, and it pains me that my gut is so at odds with my brain on this one, are his obsession with The Singularity and his endorsement of cryonics. I just don't think that The Singularity is going to come about in any simple form, and I have massive reservations over his particular fanaticism over Friendly AI, and my philosophies, the very same ones that make the guy seem so right, have forced me to face the fact that death, a permanent cessation of consciousness, is truly impossible to be rationally against, which undermines the very premise that his thoughts on cryonics are founded on, and then there's the simple fact that I can't help thinking any company that purports to offer cryonics is very probably just taking advantage of what they consider to be crazy people. I also don't like that the guy seems to be unable/unwilling to explain his beliefs/reasoning to others. I think he has a policy of assuming people's stupidity (insanity he'd probably say). His "Sequences" are a bit much, I don't think it's a good policy to keep referring, often recursively, back to other lengthy articles you've written because you can't be bothered to briefly explain the point for the coherence of the article you're writing now. Fiction Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, up to Chapter 77 as of December 15th 2011 - READ Short stories From the Fiction section of his website: *''Three Worlds Collide'' - READ *''The P-Zombie Apocalypse'' - READ *''Non-Player Character'' - READ *''The Sword of Good'' - READ *''Initiation Ceremony'' - READ *''The Finale of the Ultimate Meta Mega Crossover'' *''The Hero with a Thousand Chances'' - READ *''Trust in God, or, the Riddle of Kyon'' *''Failed Utopia #4-2'' - READ *''X17'' - READ *''Artifacts'' - READ *''Prospiracy Theory'' - READ From 'the Sequences': *''The Alien Message'' - READ Recommended reading 'Bookshelf' page on his site Discovered here on April 29th 2012, possibly written in 1999? Books that changed his life *[[Gödel, Escher, Bach|Douglas Hofstadter, Gödel, Escher, Bach]] *[[The Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhumanism Condition|Ed Regis, The Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhumanism Condition]] *[[Man: The Moral Animal|Robert Wright, Man: The Moral Animal]] *[[True Names and Other Dangers|Vernor Vinge, True Names and Other Dangers]] Books of knowledge *Douglas Hofstadter, Gödel, Escher, Bach *Ed Regis, The Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhumanism Condition *Robert Wright, Man: The Moral Animal *[[Engines of Creation|K. Eric Drexler, Engines of Creation]] *[[The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences|Wilson and Keil, The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences]] *[[The Adapted Mind|Barkow, Cosmides and Tooby, The Adapted Mind]] *[[Metamagical Themas|Douglas Hofstadter, Metamagical Themas]] *[[QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter|Richard Feynman, QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter]] *Roger Penrose **''The Emperor's New Mind'' **''Shadows of the Mind'' Books of future shock *[[Permutation City|Greg Egan, Permutation City]] *[[Quarantine|Greg Egan, Quarantine]] *Vernor Vinge **''A Fire Upon the Deep'' **''True Names'' **''Marooned in Realtime'' *[[Aristoi|Walter John Williams, Aristoi]] *[[Neverness|David Zindell, Neverness]] *[[Player of Games|Iain M. Banks, Player of Games]] Books of fun *Douglas Hofstadter, Gödel, Escher, Bach *[[Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman!|Richard Feynman, Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman!]] *Ed Regis, The Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhumanism Condition *[[The Tao is Silent|Raymond Smullyan, The Tao is Silent]] *[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]] *[[Discworld|Terry Pratchett, The Discworld Series]] Books of his youth *[[Space Cadet|Robert Heinlein, Space Cadet]] *[[Interstellar Pig|William Sleator, Interstellar Pig]] *[[Support Your Local Wizard|Diane Duane, Support Your Local Wizard]] *[[The Harper Hall Trilogy|Anne McCaffrey, The Harper Hall Trilogy]] *[[The Dark is Rising|Susan Cooper, The Dark is Rising]] *[[Dragonlance Chronicles|Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, Dragonlance Chronicles]] *[[Dragonlance Legends|Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, Dragonlance Legends]] References Category:Authors Category:People Category:Lists